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Peace in the
Holy Land: Hailstones of Fire and Water?
Education
is key to peace in the Holy Land, affirmed many of the distinguished members of
the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land (CRIHL) at the event
"Preventing Incitement and Promoting Peace," held this afternoon at the U.S.
Institute for Peace (USIP) in Washington, DC.
Here
to meet with Vice President Joe Biden, the ten members of the council,
which is composed of the most senior religious officials of the Holy Land, had
come mainly from Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, but also from Norway and
Connecticut (Yale University).
Four
members were the speakers; the others joined the panel to field questions from
moderator David Smock, Senior Vice President at USIP, and then from the
audience.
Speakers
included Canon Trond Bakkevig, founder of CRIHL and pastor of the Church of
Norway; Mahmoud Habbash, Palestinian Minister of Waqf and Religious Affairs;
Rabbi Yona Metzger, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel; and Patriarch Fouad Twal,
Latin Patriarch of Israel/Palestine and Jordan.
CRIHL's
bottom line is working for peace from the top down, by setting examples for the
grassroots to follow. The group formed in 2005 after first convening in 2002 in
Alexandria, Egypt, invited by then Archbishop of Canterbury and hosted by the
Grand Imam of Al Azhar. There a joint declaration was issued binding the
participants to work toward peace and abhor religion-based
violence--specifically, to keep channels of communication open, work closely
with their political counterparts, and to engage with local and international
communities to work toward peace.
Canon
Bakkevig, first to speak, affirmed that peace is a necessity that is possible to
achieve, a matter of willingness and ability. Since CRIHL was formed and even
though it has met regularly, violence in the name of religion and
territoriality has flourished in the Holy Land off and on. Despite this, these
clergymen perpetrate the themes that the land is holy and Jerusalem especially
holy as its center; the three narratives should be respected; and the status of
the holy sites should not be changed.
Further,
derogatory statements about any of the three religions should not be tolerated;
desecration of holy sites should be forbidden and, perhaps most important, the
problem of images of the "other" perpetrated in schoolbooks must be addressed,
an effort led by Professor Bruce Wexler of Yale University.
The
results of Wexler's project are hoped to eliminate hateful stereotypes found in
schoolbooks and to replace these with objective identifications to promote
peace and harmonious coexistence. Bakkevig later expressed this goal as three
activities: "education, education, and education."
All
four clerics expressed concern for the future, for teaching younger religious
leaders to have confidence in each other, and to promote peace in the Holy
Land.
Mahmoud
Habbash, next to speak, said that peace in the Holy Land is a tough issue
requiring open hearts and minds. Any achievement in this direction, however
small, is of vital importance.
Equal
rights for all is a paramount principle, as is comprehensive justice. Once
these goals are achieved, said Habbash, the whole world will have peace,
security, and stability, all of which will be sustainable.
But
words must translate into action, he emphasized, requiring concessions on both
sides, Palestinian and Israeli--both must benefit and neither be deprived. Peace can't be complete until you wish the
same for your brother as you wish for yourself.
Muslims,
Christians, and Jews must look toward their common interests. Palestinians have
been oppressed, suppressed, humiliated, and enslaved; continuation of murders
on both sides is an enemy of peace, said Habbash.
But
peace can't exist for one side at the expense of the other; that's the logic of
the jungle, where creatures kill, rather than love, to survive.
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